Prosecutors argue against need for new Cellini trial

Annie SweeneyTribune reporter

In a filing late Thursday, federal prosecutors argued against a new trial for Springfield power broker William Cellini amid revelations that a juror who helped convict him earlier this month apparently concealed her felony criminal background during jury selection.

In the 25-page filing, the government said Cellini couldn’t prove that the juror’s prior convictions were deliberately concealed or that the court would have excluded her if she provided accurate responses.

“The post-verdict revelation that a juror apparently had two felony convictions does not warrant a new trial,” prosecutors wrote.

The decision is now in the hands of U.S. District Judge James Zagel, who presided over the trial.

Cellini’s lawyers have argued that his attempted extortion conviction should be tossed out based on information first revealed in a Tribune report that a juror apparently failed to reveal two felony convictions to court officials.

The defense motion filed earlier this week argued that the juror, whose name was blacked out, deliberately lied under oath on separate questionnaires and again under questioning in court by failing to reveal convictions for crack cocaine possession in 2000 and aggravated driving under the influence in 2008, both felonies.

The defense also pointed out that at Cellini’s trial it had attacked the government case by highlighting that its key witness admitted to three decades of abusing cocaine and other drugs.

In addition, Cellini’s lawyers contended that the juror violated her probation on the drug case and failed to pay the $1,395 fine levied in her DUI conviction, disqualifying her from serving on a federal jury because her civil rights had not been restored.

But the juror’s probation sentences were both terminated and her civil rights restored, according to Thursday’s filing by prosecutors.

The state sought to revoke the juror’s probation in August 2010 because she didn’t pay the fine but withdrew its motion the next month, according to prosecutors.

“Although (name redacted) appears to have two felony convictions, she was sentenced to probation for both, and her probationary sentences terminated over a year before the trial in this case. As such, her civil rights were restored under Illinois law, and (name redacted) was eligible to serve as a juror in this case.”

The defense filing also cited arguments from federal prosecutors who, under similar circumstances, argued in 2006 that two jurors also found by the Tribune to have withheld criminal histories should be removed from the trial of former Gov. George Ryan.

The juror has declined several requests by the Tribune for an interview.